Genesis 22:16-17

22:16 and said, “‘I solemnly swear by my own name,’ ¹  decrees the Lord, ²  ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 22:17 I will indeed bless you, ³  and I will greatly multiply ⁴  your descendants ⁵  so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession ⁶  of the strongholds ⁷  of their enemies.

Genesis 24:7

24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, ⁸  promised me with a solemn oath, ⁹  ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel ¹⁰  before you so that you may find ¹¹  a wife for my son from there.

Genesis 26:3

26:3 Stay ¹²  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ¹³  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ¹⁴  and I will fulfill ¹⁵  the solemn promise I made ¹⁶  to your father Abraham.

Deuteronomy 7:8

7:8 Rather it is because of his ¹⁷  love ¹⁸  for you and his faithfulness to the promise ¹⁹  he solemnly vowed ²⁰  to your ancestors ²¹  that the Lord brought you out with great power, ²²  redeeming ²³  you from the place of slavery, from the power ²⁴  of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 7:12

Promises of Good for Covenant Obedience

7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you ²⁵  as he promised ²⁶  your ancestors.

Psalms 105:9

105:9 the promise ²⁷  he made to Abraham,

the promise he made by oath to Isaac!

Jeremiah 11:5

11:5 Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” ²⁸  That is the very land that you still live in today.’” ²⁹  And I responded, “Amen! Let it be so, ³⁰  Lord!”

Hebrews 6:16-17

6:16 For people ³¹  swear by something greater than themselves, ³²  and the oath serves as a confirmation to end all dispute. ³³  6:17 In the same way ³⁴  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ³⁵  and so he intervened with an oath,

[22:16]  ¹ tn Heb “By myself I swear.”

[22:16]  ² tn Heb “the oracle of the Lord.” The phrase refers to a formal oracle or decree from the Lord.

[22:17]  ³ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite verbal form (either an imperfect or cohortative) emphasizes the certainty of the blessing.

[22:17]  ⁴ tn Here too the infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the following finite verb (either an imperfect or cohortative).

[22:17]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[22:17]  ⁶ tn Or “inherit.”

[22:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. To break through the gate complex would be to conquer the city, for the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”).

[24:7]  ⁸ tn Or “the land of my birth.”

[24:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”

[24:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “his messenger.”

[24:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “before you and you will take.”

[26:3]  ¹² tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur) means “to live temporarily without ownership of land.” Abraham’s family will not actually possess the land of Canaan until the Israelite conquest hundreds of years later.

[26:3]  ¹³ tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.

[26:3]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[26:3]  ¹⁵ tn The Hiphil stem of the verb קוּם (qum) here means “to fulfill, to bring to realization.” For other examples of this use of this verb form, see Lev 26:9; Num 23:19; Deut 8:18; 9:5; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 6:12; Jer 11:5.

[26:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”

[7:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord’s.” See note on “He” in 7:6.

[7:8]  ¹⁸ tn For the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) as a term of choice or election, see note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.

[7:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “oath.” This is a reference to the promises of the so-called “Abrahamic Covenant” (cf. Gen 15:13-16).

[7:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “swore on oath.”

[7:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13).

[7:8]  ²² tn Heb “by a strong hand” (NAB similar); NLT “with such amazing power.”

[7:8]  ²³ sn Redeeming you from the place of slavery. The Hebrew verb translated “redeeming” (from the root פָּדָה, padah) has the idea of redemption by the payment of a ransom. The initial symbol of this was the Passover lamb, offered by Israel to the Lord as ransom in exchange for deliverance from bondage and death (Exod 12:1-14). Later, the firstborn sons of Israel, represented by the Levites, became the ransom (Num 3:11-13). These were all types of the redemption effected by the death of Christ who described his atoning work as “a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28; cf. 1 Pet 1:18).

[7:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NRSV), a metaphor for power or domination.

[7:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “will keep with you the covenant and loyalty.” On the construction used here, see v. 9.

[7:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “which he swore on oath.” The relative pronoun modifies “covenant,” so one could translate “will keep faithfully the covenant (or promise) he made on oath to your ancestors.”

[105:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “which.”

[11:5]  ²⁸ tn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” is very familiar to readers in the Jewish and Christian traditions as a proverbial description of the agricultural and pastoral abundance of the land of Israel. However, it may not mean too much to readers outside those traditions; an equivalent expression would be “a land of fertile fields and fine pastures.” E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 626) identifies this as a figure of speech called synecdoche where the species is put for the genus, “a region…abounding with pasture and fruits of all kinds.”

[11:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as at this day.” However, the literal reading is too elliptical and would lead to confusion.

[11:5]  ³⁰ tn The words “Let it be so” are not in the text; they are an explanation of the significance of the term “Amen” for those who may not be part of the Christian or Jewish tradition.

[6:16]  ³¹ tn The plural Greek term ἄνθρωποι (anqrwpoi) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, and is thus translated “people.”

[6:16]  ³² tn Grk “by something greater”; the rest of the comparison (“than themselves”) is implied.

[6:16]  ³³ tn Grk “the oath for confirmation is an end of all dispute.”

[6:17]  ³⁴ tn Grk “in which.”

[6:17]  ³⁵ tn Or “immutable” (here and in v. 18); Grk “the unchangeableness of his purpose.”